Dragon Ball Updates Wiki:Manual of Style
The Manual of Style (MoS) is a style guide for articles on the Dragon Ball Updates Wiki. Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with common practices and rules. If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page. Please do not introduce or alter guidelines on this page without consensus. Article titles, headings, and sections Article titles *Titles are generally nouns or noun phrases (Saiyan-Tuffle war, not About the Saiyan-Tuffle war). *Titles should not begin with "the", "a" or "an" unless the article is part of a proper noun. (Saiyan-Tuffle war is preferable to The Saiyan-Tuffle war. However, The End of Vegeta is appropriate, as "The" is part of that episode's name.) *Article titles should be singular; category titles should be plural. For example, the article Saiyan (singular) belongs to the category Races (plural). If an article is about a plural subject, prefer calling it a list. (List of Dragon Ball episodes rather than Dragon Ball episodes.) *The first letter in an article's title should be capitalized. The rest of the title should be lowercase, unless it would be uppercase when written in a normal sentence. (Proper nouns are still capitalized, such as Tuffle in Saiyan-Tuffle war.) *The titles of articles about individual characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known, with later names preferred to earlier names, and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles, such as military ranks or titles of nobility, should be omitted. (Vegeta instead of Prince Vegeta.) Exceptions may be made to this rule when a commonly used rank or title is used to distinguish a less prominent character from a major character who shares the same name. For example, King Piccolo, Lord Piccolo or King Vegeta. In such cases, appropriate disambiguation links should be present on all the relevant articles. Titles may also be used when a character is most commonly referred to using that title; for example, Dr. Gero. See naming convention for the preferred sources of names. *Articles about planets should use the planet's name as a title. Standard disambiguation procedure applies when the planet shares its name with another subject. (For example, an article about the planet, Vegeta may be entitled, Vegeta (planet) to disambiguate from other subjects that share that name.) Section headings *Capitalize the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns in headings, but leave the rest in lower case. (Saiyan-Tuffle war instead of Saiyan-Tuffle War.) *Section names should not explicitly refer to the subject of the article, or to higher-level headings, unless doing so is shorter or clearer. For example, Early life is preferable to His early life when His means the subject of the article; headings can be assumed to be about the subject unless otherwise indicated. *Headings provide an overview in the article's table of contents and should be nested appropriately. The article title is automatically H1, all other headings should be nested inside of it. ( H2 , followed by H3 , H4 and so on.) Linking to sections *When linking to a section, as a courtesy, go to that article's section and leave an editor's note to remind others that the title is linked. List the names of the linking articles, so that if the title is altered, others can fix the links without having to perform exhaustive searches. For example: Imperfect Cell *As well, consider a preemptive measure to minimize link corruption when the text of a heading changes by inserting an with the old name with which to link to that heading section. For example: Imperfect form Layout In-universe Characters *Appearance *Personality *Biography **Series **Movies *Video games *Transformations *Techniques *Fusions *Major battles *Voice actors *Other media All articles should conform to the following basic layout: *''Body'' Naturally, if a particular section is not applicable to an article, it need not be present, but sections that are applicable should follow the above ordering. The structure of the article's body depends on the nature of the article. The following sections describe the complete layouts of different article types. While this listing is not exhaustive, it should provide an adequate template for other articles to follow. (Note the general trend of description, followed by history, followed by miscellaneous, and in-universe sections followed by out-of-universe sections.) Techniques *Description *Usage *Video games *Other media Out-of-universe People *Description *History *Other work Episodes and manga chapters *Summary *Major events *Major battles *Quotes *Cast *Differences from the manga *Edits *Releases (e.g. DVDs) Sagas *Summary *Characters *Major events *Major battles *Quotes *Releases (e.g. DVDs) *Episode list Movies *Summary *Characters *Major events *Major battles *Quotes *Canonicity *Production *Releases (e.g. DVDs) *Cast *Music Canonicity In in-universe sections, there are several sources of information that can be used. They are arranged in order of authoritativeness. If a more authoritative source directly conflicts with a less authoritative source, the more authoritative source is used, and a separate side note should be made about the conflict. If a less authoritative source includes information that was absent in more authoritative sources but that does not directly conflict with those sources, that source is used and a note should be made about the omission in the more authoritative sources. The usable sources, in order of authoritativeness are as follows: #The original Dragon Ball manga #The anime series, including Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT #Movies and TV specials #Authorized guides and statements as follows: ##Statements by Akira Toriyama (author of the original manga series) ##Statements by Toei (producer of the anime and author of the GT portion of the series) ##Authorized guides (discussion may be required to gauge relative importance) #Video games Note that this applies only to generic in-universe material, such as that found on most character, item and location articles. If an article's subject is specific to a particular source, that source's information should take precedence (though conflicts and omissions from other sources should still be noted). For example, an article about an episode from the anime would describe the anime's account — even if it conflicted with the original manga's account — since anime episodes are specific to the anime series; any conflicts or omissions between the two sources would be discussed in side notes. Naming convention The following order of preference is used for names referring to characters, techniques or places. The first name on the list should be used if available. If not, preference shifts to the second choice, and so on. When a Japanese name must be used for a subject, it should be rendered in rōmaji. #English anime title (e.g. Launch) #English manga title (e.g. Lunch) #Official English video games #Other English authorized guides, for example the newly translated Daizenshuu #Japanese anime title (e.g. Ranchi) #Japanese manga title #Official Japanese video games #Other Japanese authorized guides While the above convention is used for common references and article titles, a subject's own page may list all of that subject's alternative titles, including those rendered in Japanese characters. Family connections Within the family connections portion of character infoboxes, this basic structure should be applied. There should be the name of the character followed by the relation in parenthesis. The relation within the parenthesis should also be italicized. Here is an example of the basic structure and order that should be used. If there are family connections that are not applicable, such as an unknown mother, then relation should be skipped and order continued as followed. Other exceptions to the basic structure such as relation to Cell should be listed as (Modified Clone) if applicable. (Creator) or (Creation) should also be included when applicable, such as with Dr. Gero. Team-mates, Henchmen, or Leader should be listed as (Comrade, Henchman, or Leader), and placed below immediate family if any. Connections such as Great-Grandparents should also be included, and listed directly after Grandson or Granddaughter. (Alternate timeline counterpart '(if applicable)) (''Father) (Mother) (Brother) (Sister) (Brother-in-law) (Sister-in-law) (Grandfather) (Grandmother) (Husband, Wife, or significant other) (Father-in-law) (Mother- in-law (Son) (Daughter) (Son-in-law or adoptive son) (Daughter-in-law or adoptive daughter) (Grandson) (Granddaughter) (Cousin) (Mentor) (Student) (Fusee) The appearance of alternate timeline counterpart characters calls for a specific order in which to approach editing. Editors should follow this basic structure. *Normal character pages (ex. Goku): list alternate self (ex. Future Goku), Future Trunks, Future Gohan, and Future Bulma if applicable (as they are main characters in the alternate timeline). *Alternate timeline character pages with the exception of Future Trunks, Future Gohan, and Future Bulma (ex. Future Vegeta): list all alternate future family (ex. Future Bulma), and counterpart (ex. Vegeta). *Alternate timeline Future Trunks, Future Gohan, and Future Bulma pages: list all alternate future family and all normal family. *Connections between normal characters and alternate timeline characters should only be listed if the original connection existed before the events leading to the timelines' divergence. Dates The use of the official Age and Before Age should be used in correlation to any dates given. *For example, Goku is born in 737 Age and Korin is born around 50 Before Age. If dates are repeated numerous times, dropping of Age or Before Age may be applicable, such as for example, the sentence, "Goku was born sometime in 737 Age. Twelve years later, in 749, he meets Bulma". This scenario is a prime example of when it is ample to drop the use of Age, as dates are repeated in proximity to each other. This change is not required, but is recommended. Usage Language *Though the readers and editors of the Dragon Ball Wiki speak many varieties of English, standard American English spelling, punctuation, and word usage is preferred. (Color, center and gray, not colour, centre and grey.) *Slang and profanity are inappropriate unless they are part of a quote. Even then, it should be carefully gauged whether such a quote is really notable and necessary. Abbreviations and acronyms *When using acronyms, write out both the full version and the abbreviation at first occurrence. (One could write Red Ribbon Army (RRA) the first time that subject was used in an article, and then use RRA in subsequent references.) *Avoid abbreviations when they would be confusing to the reader, interrupt the flow, or appear informal or lazy. Formatting *Titles of movies, series and books are italicized. (The World's Strongest, Daizenshuu, Dragon Ball Z.) *Titles of episodes, chapters, articles and songs are enclosed in double quotes. ("Battle for the Universe Begins", "Separate Ways".) *Foreign words that use the Latin alphabet should be italicized. (For example, rōmaji names.) *Strong emphasis that isn't adequately conveyed by an article's wording may be italicized. **Bold or capitalized text should not be used to convey emphasis. *Headings should use the aforementioned header tags, as opposed to bold text. *Bold text is used when the subject of an article is introduced. ('''Goku is a character in the Dragon Ball metaseries created by Akira Toriyama and is the main protagonist in the Dragon Ball universe.) If other alternate English titles are also used to introduce the subject, they should be bold as well. (For example, an attack which has been referred to by two names might be introduced by multiple titles, all of which would be bold.) *Blank lines should be used primarily to separate sections and paragraphs, and they should not be used to align elements in an article. In the rare event that such alignment is necessary, it can be achieved with the template. No further formatting is necessary to convey line breaks. Members are urged only to maintain one blank line in between each section and paragraph. It is strongly recommended that members refrain from adding line breaks throughout an article, as they are likely to be reverted and removed in order to maintain consistency and proper formatting. Verb tense *In-universe articles should be written in present tense. *Out-of-universe articles should be written in past tense. Perspective In-universe In-universe articles are about subjects which exist inside the Dragon Ball universe. These include, but are not limited to, characters, techniques, objects and places that are found in the series. In-universe articles should be written in in-universe style, from the perspective of someone who lives in the Dragon Ball universe. Out-of-universe Out-of-universe articles are about subjects which pertain to the Dragon Ball franchise but do not exist inside the Dragon Ball universe. These include, but are not limited to, voice actors, Dragon Ball anime and manga series, and episodes and sagas. Out-of-universe articles should be written in out-of-universe style, from the perspective of someone who lives in the real world. Sections that summarize in-universe events (for example, summaries inside saga or episode articles) should be written in in-universe style (and in past tense), even if they exist within an out-of-universe article. Images *If possible, each article should include at least one image that appropriately presents its subject. *Fan art of the series is not permitted on articles or in user space, though representation of one's self by means of Dragon Ball-themed images is permissible for avatars, signatures or user descriptions. *Animated images should not be used in articles, as they distract from encyclopedic content and can substantially increase page load times for users with slow internet connections. *Prefer to use the PNG format for images. GIFs should not be used unless the image is a screenshot of a game with 256 colors or less. (Even then, PNG is preferable.) *Images should be tagged with their license type. *Images should preferably be at least 300 pixels wide to accommodate users who have thumbnails set to that width in their . *Absolute thumbnail sizes should not be specified in pixels unless there is a special reason to do so, as this overrides users' preferences. *Subjects that appear in the Dragon Ball anime or manga series should not use video game screen captures as their primary images. *Images should not be used excessively to the point that they crowd out and distract from the textual contents of an article. *Screen captures from the anime should preferably be displayed in the aspect ratio in which they were originally presented. (For example, a fullscreen (4:3) screen capture from the anime series is preferable to a cropped, widescreen (16:9) image.) *Explicit images should only be used when they convey something substantial and pertinent that cannot be adequately expressed in words. In such cases, the template should be used to obscure the material from sensitive viewers. Videos *Like animated images, embedded videos should not be used in articles, as they distract from encyclopedic content and can substantially increase page load times for users with slow internet connections. *Links to videos may be provided in an article's external links or references as long as they are pertinent to the article's subject, and as long as doing so does not violate copyright laws. Fan works This wiki allows official Dragon Ball material and Dragon Ball Fan Material. When making a Fan-made article, please put the template on it so others will automatically recognize it as a Fan-made page.